No Business For The Tories

Unless I’ve missed it, business has hardly had a look-in when it comes to the next Tory leader.

All candidates have talked about the economy – it’s going to get much bigger and with less tax, apparently.

None have expressed any particular enthusiasm for business or the City, as if they were incidental to the economy. Both seem to be embarrassing side-lines, this awful part of the UK that just happens to employ half of us.

This was always the accusation put to Labour – that it just saw industry as a means to pay for what it wants, that it had no enthusiasm for actual wealth creators.

This seems to be an oversight and it would be nice if, before the end of the leadership race, one of the politicians spoke about entrepreneurship in something other than platitudes.

According to this analysis the leadership candidates have a combined net worth of £1 billion.

So it is not like they aren’t interested in business beyond the correct rate of corporation tax.

This week Find Out Now and election experts Electoral Calculus asked a nationally representative poll of more than 2,000 people who which was their preferred candidate.

It has Rishi Sunak top, Liz Truss second and, tellingly, Penny Mordaunt gaining fast.

You can see that result here.

Other work by the pollster has Penny beating Rishi if they are the last two. But she loses to Liz in the same scenario.

Truss should see this to the end.